Park Community Centre faces closure

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This article was published 14/12/2019 (2096 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Rosser ward was “blindsided” by a proposal to permanently close and demolish the Park Community Centre going before Brandon City Council on Monday, according to the area’s former MLA.

“Completely blindsided by a proposal to demolish a building that has served or community for a century on the basis of a $150,000 capital request — that’s a small, small amount of money to support a very significant community asset in Brandon,” said Drew Caldwell, a neighbourhood resident and the former NDP MLA for Brandon East.

“Anybody in any community would be concerned about the potential loss of such an important part of Brandon … people are flabbergasted in the neighbourhood.”

A report to Brandon City Council sent out on Friday morning recommends the Park Community Centre be closed and the building decommissioned next year. In its place, the report recommends the city build a green space.

The report cites a 2017 assessment of the community centre, which showed the Park Community Centre had major deficiencies. The assembly hall main floor support beam is “inadequate” and the floor beam support footing is not properly supported. There are also roofing deficiencies, mechanical and electrical issues.

There are three options presented to council in the report. Option one — the most expensive at $130,000 — is to renovate the structure so it could brought back to a full capacity of hosting 143 people.

Option two is less expensive at $60,000 to $110,000 and would repair the building to how it was originally built. This option wouldn’t bring it up to full capacity, however.

Option three is to demolish the building and create a community green space where it stood. The estimated cost is approximately $100,000 and is recommended by city administration.

Caldwell, a former Rosser ward councillor, said he is organizing with residents to save the building. He would like to see a positive solution that solidifies the community centre into the future.

The centre is still well used, he said, including for yoga, craft sales, wedding socials, dances and youth activities.

“The thoughtful thing to do, given that this is dropped out of the sky at Christmas time — talk about a grinch gift for the entire Rosser ward … we want to address that, which is a vastly surprise at Christmas time, and turn that into something very positive moving forward,” he said.

The city’s 2019 Recreation and Community Facilities Master Plan states there are an overabundance of community centres in Brandon. It recommends the city consolidate them down to five. It states the Park Community Centre is in poor shape and has accessibility issues.

Garry Miller, a resident of 16th Street who phoned the Sun to express his concern, said he was “devastated” when he learned the city proposed tearing it down. He estimates he has been there 1,000 times over the course of his 64 years living in the neighbourhood.

“It’s like tearing down your family home. I think it’s just absolutely ridiculous fo the sake of a couple of dollars to do away with the only community centre that’s pretty much in the core area,” Miller said.

Coun. Kris Desjarlais (Rosser), who represents the area, said he knew about the options on the table but was surprised by the report to council on Friday morning recommending it be torn down. He said the expectation was there would be a public awareness campaign to get feedback beforehand.

“This would be a very quick and rash decision, before we’ve had an opportunity to consult with the community,” he said on Friday afternoon.

“It’s not a heritage building, but it is an iconic community centre and if we are going to make the very tough decision to let it go, the community needs to have the opportunity to let it go. I don’t want to make that decision as a councillor without having residents’ input.”

Desjarlais said he planned to put forward a motion at the next meeting to table the decision on the community centre until the city has the chance to hear from and meet with residents, hopefully in January.

Brandon City Council will vote on the report at the final council meeting of the year on Monday.

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